Trenton Ford
@twford.bsky.social
I profess, and do research on social media, memes, and agentic AI.
Pinned
Trenton Ford
@twford.bsky.social
· Nov 30
Hi Folks, I’m Trenton W. Ford, a Data Science Professor at William and Mary where I direct a research lab on Agentic AI, social media, and misinformation.
I don’t know how the algorithm works on Bluesky, but I’d like my feed to be full of scientists, gamers, hikers, and stationary obsessed people!
I don’t know how the algorithm works on Bluesky, but I’d like my feed to be full of scientists, gamers, hikers, and stationary obsessed people!
Who out there is actually paying for Adobe Acrobat to create PDF files? Don't hide.
February 25, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Who out there is actually paying for Adobe Acrobat to create PDF files? Don't hide.
I think we’re ready for a human-only social media platform. None of this “public forum” nonsense works when trolls and bots can dominate the attention economy.
February 23, 2025 at 3:49 PM
I think we’re ready for a human-only social media platform. None of this “public forum” nonsense works when trolls and bots can dominate the attention economy.
Everything is fine as long as you don’t look up.
At the moment, mansion-sized Asteroid 2024-YR4 has a one-in-fifty chance of hitting Earth in the next eight years.
Now might be a bad time to reduce spending on Science. Just sayin’.
Now might be a bad time to reduce spending on Science. Just sayin’.
February 15, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Everything is fine as long as you don’t look up.
Are we at the beginning of a book or the end?
February 11, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Are we at the beginning of a book or the end?
When did the CEOs of billion dollar companies become your idols?
February 10, 2025 at 6:29 PM
When did the CEOs of billion dollar companies become your idols?
Reposted by Trenton Ford
Scientists, as well as bureaucrats.
This is the head of OMB, folks. He coauthored Project 2025. This is the playbook we are seeing with the attacks on DEI efforts, on healthcare, on NSF and NIH funding.
They want us out of the way so they can destroy many institutions and resegregate the rest.
This is the head of OMB, folks. He coauthored Project 2025. This is the playbook we are seeing with the attacks on DEI efforts, on healthcare, on NSF and NIH funding.
They want us out of the way so they can destroy many institutions and resegregate the rest.
“We Want the Bureaucrats to Be Traumatically Affected”
YouTube video by ProPublica
www.youtube.com
February 8, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Scientists, as well as bureaucrats.
This is the head of OMB, folks. He coauthored Project 2025. This is the playbook we are seeing with the attacks on DEI efforts, on healthcare, on NSF and NIH funding.
They want us out of the way so they can destroy many institutions and resegregate the rest.
This is the head of OMB, folks. He coauthored Project 2025. This is the playbook we are seeing with the attacks on DEI efforts, on healthcare, on NSF and NIH funding.
They want us out of the way so they can destroy many institutions and resegregate the rest.
Reposted by Trenton Ford
You know the thing where a Chinese company announced that they did AI better and Nvidia lost $600 billion in one day? Trump’s actions are going to do that to all US research and development sectors and China is going to rule the world. I can teach y’all Chinese.
January 28, 2025 at 5:38 AM
You know the thing where a Chinese company announced that they did AI better and Nvidia lost $600 billion in one day? Trump’s actions are going to do that to all US research and development sectors and China is going to rule the world. I can teach y’all Chinese.
Reposted by Trenton Ford
CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) has provided real-time data and analysis about disease outbreaks and emerging health threats without a break every week since 1960.
Until today.
Until today.
January 23, 2025 at 6:38 PM
CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) has provided real-time data and analysis about disease outbreaks and emerging health threats without a break every week since 1960.
Until today.
Until today.
Reposted by Trenton Ford
“Until we acknowledge that publish or perish is the natural consequence of the rankings obsession, we’re not going to fix anything.”
Our Ivan Oransky speaks with @nature.com.
Our Ivan Oransky speaks with @nature.com.
‘Publish or perish’ culture blamed for reproducibility crisis
Survey of more than 1,600 biomedical researchers also flagged small sample sizes and cherry-picking of data as leading causes of reproducibility problems.
www.nature.com
January 21, 2025 at 2:13 PM
“Until we acknowledge that publish or perish is the natural consequence of the rankings obsession, we’re not going to fix anything.”
Our Ivan Oransky speaks with @nature.com.
Our Ivan Oransky speaks with @nature.com.
The posts we don’t make are likely our most impactful. I need a social media of anonymous unposted messages.
January 22, 2025 at 6:24 AM
The posts we don’t make are likely our most impactful. I need a social media of anonymous unposted messages.
Nope. Absolutely not.
January 20, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Nope. Absolutely not.
#BookTok, while I've got you here:
Could I get some escapist suggestions to read? I like science fiction, fantasy, and *finished* book series.
Could I get some escapist suggestions to read? I like science fiction, fantasy, and *finished* book series.
January 20, 2025 at 3:19 AM
#BookTok, while I've got you here:
Could I get some escapist suggestions to read? I like science fiction, fantasy, and *finished* book series.
Could I get some escapist suggestions to read? I like science fiction, fantasy, and *finished* book series.
The last 3 months of social media news could have been titled: Disrupting Communities
Anyone else have title ideas?
Anyone else have title ideas?
January 19, 2025 at 8:16 PM
The last 3 months of social media news could have been titled: Disrupting Communities
Anyone else have title ideas?
Anyone else have title ideas?
Reposted by Trenton Ford
lmao no, TikTok users are not moving to Bluesky. They would literally rather learn Mandarin than learn how to read a feed of text posts. This is a millennial retirement home.
January 19, 2025 at 5:45 AM
lmao no, TikTok users are not moving to Bluesky. They would literally rather learn Mandarin than learn how to read a feed of text posts. This is a millennial retirement home.
To everyone who had to scramble and download their TikTok data before the platform shutdown, now is a great time to come up with a data management plan.
TikTok is not the first, nor the last.
TikTok is not the first, nor the last.
January 19, 2025 at 5:28 AM
To everyone who had to scramble and download their TikTok data before the platform shutdown, now is a great time to come up with a data management plan.
TikTok is not the first, nor the last.
TikTok is not the first, nor the last.
Reposted by Trenton Ford
Fed up with Meta? Avoiding Instagram or Facebook isn’t enough to stop Meta from harvesting and profiting from your private information. Here’s how to limit Meta’s ability to monetize your personal data.
Mad at Meta? Don't Let Them Collect and Monetize Your Personal Data
If you’re fed up with Meta right now, you’re not alone. Meta tracks you across millions of websites and apps and its business model relies on your data. If you want to limit Meta’s ability to collect ...
www.eff.org
January 17, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Fed up with Meta? Avoiding Instagram or Facebook isn’t enough to stop Meta from harvesting and profiting from your private information. Here’s how to limit Meta’s ability to monetize your personal data.
I fully understand not wanting to join Meta platforms after the TikTok ban. However, IMO, joining some other privately owned platform as a protest against Meta, X, and the government is avoiding the real question:
Is the sale of your attention under your control?
Is the sale of your attention under your control?
January 16, 2025 at 4:26 PM
I fully understand not wanting to join Meta platforms after the TikTok ban. However, IMO, joining some other privately owned platform as a protest against Meta, X, and the government is avoiding the real question:
Is the sale of your attention under your control?
Is the sale of your attention under your control?
We thought unfettered access to information would free us. That was partly true, yet not true enough.
periodically I look around at the state of the internet and the way it is clearly contributing to making the world worse in so many ways, and I think back to dicking around in a computer lab in the early 00s and how full of promise it all felt, and I feel sad
it didn't have to be this way
it didn't have to be this way
January 16, 2025 at 4:51 AM
We thought unfettered access to information would free us. That was partly true, yet not true enough.
I sometimes wonder if we'd know if we were in the 𝘍𝘪𝘢𝘵 𝘝𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴 𝘛𝘶𝘢 part of A Canticle for Leibowitz.
#sciencefiction #scifi #fantasyfiction
#sciencefiction #scifi #fantasyfiction
January 15, 2025 at 7:51 PM
I sometimes wonder if we'd know if we were in the 𝘍𝘪𝘢𝘵 𝘝𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴 𝘛𝘶𝘢 part of A Canticle for Leibowitz.
#sciencefiction #scifi #fantasyfiction
#sciencefiction #scifi #fantasyfiction
*furiously googles ASEAN*
YIKES! Duckworth asks Hegseth to name a country that's in ASEAN. He names three -- none of which are in ASEAN.
"I suggest you do a little homework," she says.
"I suggest you do a little homework," she says.
January 15, 2025 at 3:48 PM
*furiously googles ASEAN*
Would you still use social media if you knew 10% of the *people* you were communicating with weren't human?
How about 50%?
How about 50%?
January 14, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Would you still use social media if you knew 10% of the *people* you were communicating with weren't human?
How about 50%?
How about 50%?
This is probably a good thing.
Improving our shared infrastructure for AI will allow us to make the research happening at institutions more cost effective and more *environmentally friendly*. The real question is how well this resource will be communicated to, and then adopted by, research labs.
Improving our shared infrastructure for AI will allow us to make the research happening at institutions more cost effective and more *environmentally friendly*. The real question is how well this resource will be communicated to, and then adopted by, research labs.
Statement by President Biden on the Executive Order on Advancing U.S. Leadership in Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure | The White House
The United States leads the world at the frontier of artificial intelligence (AI). Cutting-edge AI will have profound implications for national security
www.whitehouse.gov
January 14, 2025 at 9:15 PM
This is probably a good thing.
Improving our shared infrastructure for AI will allow us to make the research happening at institutions more cost effective and more *environmentally friendly*. The real question is how well this resource will be communicated to, and then adopted by, research labs.
Improving our shared infrastructure for AI will allow us to make the research happening at institutions more cost effective and more *environmentally friendly*. The real question is how well this resource will be communicated to, and then adopted by, research labs.
Reposted by Trenton Ford
We are teaching children that living with integrity is a fantastical notion best left behind in childhood.
January 14, 2025 at 6:42 PM
We are teaching children that living with integrity is a fantastical notion best left behind in childhood.